Magazine feed electromagnetic vibratory sheet



June 4, 1957 W. B. EDDlsoN ErAL 2,794,536

' MAGAZINE FEED ELEcTRoMAGNETIc vIBRAToRY SHEET Filed Jan. -11, '1954 'Hmmm-E -A ",Wllhumln..-

IN'VENTOR .I L Y wn \.1AM.aARToN EnolsoN WARREN E ERlcKsoN www,

l ATTORNEYS.

lVIAGAZINE FEED ELECTROMAGNETIC VIBRATORY SHEET William Barton Eddison, Irvington, N. Y., and Warren E. Erickson, Madison, Wis.

Application January 11, 1954, Serial No. 403,332 10 Claims. (Cl. 271-8) This invention relates to a magazine feed such as that employed for supplying seals for bottle sealing machines and has to do with the supplying of folded dat tubular seals and the like to machines for automatically applying the same to bottle tops and the like.

Heretofore, two general types of magazines have been employed: (l) where the pack of seals was disposed vertically and conned on all four sides with the top open for receiving additional seals and the bottom constituting a stripping table, and (2) where the seals were placed upright on edge in a horizontal trough and pressed or biased toward the stripping end by a weighted lever arm or other suitable means.

In Ithe first type of magazine the weight of the pack of seals varies considerably from time to time and difculties have been encountered in stripping seals from the bottom.

ln the second type of magazine the lever arm interferes with adding new seals to the pack in the magazine and must be pivoted out of contact with the seals momentarily during the adding of new seals. Furthermore, the length of the magazine is somewhat limited to the stroke of the lever arm.

As machines of this type are constructed with greater speed the task of maintaining a supply of seals in the magazines becomes greater and in general it becomes advisable to employ substantially longer magazines wherein it is possible to maintain a longer ysupply of seals.

The present invention meets the needs of higher speed machines with a trough of substantial length and with feeding of the seals automatically toward the stripping end as fast as the machine will take them and without regard to the mass weight of the seals.

ln carrying out the invention the magazine trough is tilted downwardly toward the stripping or discharge end at an angle which when coupled with a rapid lateral vibnation of the trough urges the seals toward the lower end by gravity.

The accompanying drawings illustrate in principle the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a top plan view of the apparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudin vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Figure l;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a detail top plan View of the magnet and surrounding parts.

The invention is applicable to apparatus employing one or more magazines fora single machine, and is illustrated as applied to a machine having two laterally spaced substantially parallel magazine troughs 1 and 2 mounted upon a vibration table 3 and disposed with their discharge ends substantially parallel and adjacent to the stripping mechanism 4 of the machine.

'2,794,636 Ice Patented June 4, 1957 The bottom of leach of the troughs 1 and 2 is tilted downwardly longitudinally toward stripper mechanism 4 and `each folded seal 6 stands on edge in the trough in a transverse plane substantially normal to the bottom of the trough.

The tilt angle of troughs 1 and 2 may vary substantially so long as it is sucient to provide a gravity urge for movement of the seals toward the stripper 4 under the vibratory conditions to be described, and so long as it is not :so great as to make the weight of the pack of seals a substantial factor in the stripping of the seals.

In practice about a 20 tilt of the troughs 1 and 2 from the horizontal has been found to be satisfactory for the rate of feed desired. The tilt may be as low as 5 from the horizontal where a correspondingly slow rate of feed is sufficient.

The rapid lateral vibration of troughs 1 and 2 is produced by mounting table 3 free for lateral horizontal vibration and applying thereto vibrating forces by electromagnetic or other suitable means.

For this purpose the table 3 is supported at the four corners thereof by laterally exible and longitudinally rigid laminated legs 8 which are secured at their lower ends to a base 9. A vibrator coil 10 is mounted on base 9 to face laterally of the table 3 and magazines 1 and 2, and a magnet zarmatm'e 11 is secured to the underside of table 3 and depends therefrom adjacent to the face of the coil and normally spaced therefrom.

The base 9 carries two opposite laterally extending bolts 12 each of which carries a coil spring 13 mounted between a washer 14 engaging the head of the bolt and a washer 15 engaging a depending lug 16 from the underside of table 3. The springs 13 are normally pre-compressed and they oppose each other to hold the table 3 in a normal central position.

Oscillation of the table 3 is obtained by a pulsating energization of coil 10 which sets up a pendulum type motion for the table utilizing the springs 13 and in part the resilience of legs 8 to maintain the major vibratory action. For this purpose the coil is energized by a pulsating direct current obtained by employing a half-wave rectifier 17 in the leads 18 between a source 19 of alternating current and the coil.

By balancing or adjusting the current relative to the spring constant of the system relative to the mass it is possible to maintain the vibratory action with a minimum of input energy and to utilize the springs to provide the major part of the energy.

lt is desirable to avoid carrying the vibrations of table 3 into the body of the machine. For this purpose the table 3 and magazines 1 and 2 should be made of some very light metal or alloy such as an aluminum or magnesium alloy.

ln addition to the above, the base 9 is shown as suspended from xed brackets 20 by means of laterally ilexible suspension members 21 at the corners of the base :adjacent and generally parallel to legs 8. In this manner base 9 is laterally oating with respect to the machine and lateral vibrations of the base are not transmitted to the machine.

Base 9 is made of substantial Weight, as by forming the same of heavy cast iron to provide an inertia mass An-Avd ^t which does not have the same natural frequency of vibration as table 3 and which resists vibratory movement, thereby compelling the vibration forces to be most effective upon table 3 and its magazinesl and 2. Y

in operation lthe lateral lvibnation of magazines 1 and 2-kills the friction between the seals 6 and the tops of ridges S supporting `the same, whereby the seals'readily slide downwardly along the tilted troughs toward the stripper 4. The actual feed rate for seals 6 will depend entirely upon the rate of stripping of the seals from'the end of the magazines. Y

The lateraly vibration Yalso aligns-the seals by forcing all of the seals simultaneously against the same side vwall 7 during each cycle of vibration so that'the corresponding side edges of the seals are brought into a common plane regardless of possible lack of seal alignment as ra pack of seals is dropped manually into the trough.

Various embodiments of the invention Vmay be employed Within the scope of the following claims which particularlypoint out and distinctly claimrthe subject matter regarded as `the invention.

We claim: Y

1. In apparatus of the class described, a trough for receiving a pack of upright at objects to be stripped successively fromthe end thereof, Vsaid trough being tilted longitudinally downward toward the discharge end lthereof, and means to vibrate said trough laterally to kill the friction between the objects and the trough so that the objects freely move toward the discharge end by 'gravity influence as the end objects are removed one by one successively from the trough.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the trough has longitudinal ridges in the bottom thereof to thereby reduce the area of frictional Contact of the objects therewith. Y

' 3. The apparatus of claim l and means to prevent Vtransmission `of the vibratory forces into the body of the apparatus stripping the objects from said trough.

4. The :apparatus of claim Y1 in which said vibrating means `comprises a base constituting an inertia weight mass, means to suspend said base for free lateral vibratory movement, means to support said trough upon said base for relative lateral movement therebetween, said last named means being laterally resilient and tending to retain the trough in a normal position, and electromagnetic vibratory means interposed between said base and trough to effect lateral vibration of the trough relative to the base, whereby the trough oscillates between said normal position and ya position determined by the magnetic actuation of said last named means.

5. In apparatus for applying folded tubular seals to bottle tops and the like, a magazine feed comprising a trough for receiving a pack of seals with the seals dis- 4 Y posed on edge, said trough having its bottom tilted downwardly toward the discharge end thereof, longitudinally extending members at the bottom of the trough for supporting the seals therein and limiting the area of frictional contact of the seals therewith, and means to vibrate the trough laterally at a frequency aiding in the gravity feed of the seals 'to the stripper mechanism.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 inrwhich the bottom of the trough Yis-transversely horizontal and the trough has substantially vertical sides which tend to align the seals as the vibratory forces effect alternate engagement of the seal edges with the'sides.

7. The apparatus of Yclaim 5 in which the trough isl supported by laterally flexible resilient members which tend to return the same to a` predetermined position, and the vibrating means comprise an electromagnetic vibrator disposed to displace the trough laterahy at a frequency corresponding to the natural frequency of vibration for the system. Q Y

8. The apparatus of claim 5 in which vthe trough is mounted upon laterallyY ilexible resilient legs supported by a laterally iloating inertia mass, and the vibrating means comprise an electromagnetic vibrator disposed between the trough and the inertia mass, whereby the vibratory forces of said Vibrator are transmitted principally to the trough and Isaid inertia mass'insul-ates the body of the machine from said forces.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 in which the trough is supported by laterally ilexible members, and pre-loaded opposed springs are arranged to bias the trough to :a normal central static position and to provide a pendulumlike Vibratory action therefor under excitation by said vibrating means.

10. The apparatus of claim 5 in which the trough is supported by laterally exible members, preloaded opposed springs are arranged to bias the trough to a normal central static position and to provide a pendulum-like vibratory action therefor under excitation by said vibrating means, and said vibrating means comprises a magnet coil, a source of lalternating current connected to energize said coil", and a half-wave rectifier connected in the circuit between said source and lsaid coil.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,304,146 Brinton Dec. 8, 1942 2,550,032 Zabel et al Apr. 24, 1951 2,571,942 Properzi Oct. 16, 1951 2,584,730 Novick Feb.` 5, 1952 2,631,851 Jones Mar. 17, 1953 2,642,285 Baker et; al. .Tune 16, 1953 2,665,906 Johnson Jan. 12, 1954 

